Geneva, 17 December 2004.
Speaking at the 131st session of CERN Counciltoday, the Organization's
Director General, Robert Aymar, confirmed thatthe top priority is to
maintain the goal of starting up CERN's LargeHadron Collider (LHC) in
2007.

Preparations for the LHC project are advancing well, with half of
the mosttechnologically challenging components - the cold masses for the
dipolemagnets that will steer high-energy protons around the LHC's 27
kilometrering - having been delivered to CERN. In October the new transfer
linethat delivers protons from the Super Proton Synchrotron to the LHC
tunnelworked at the first attempt. The line is based on 540 magnets supplied
bythe Budker Institute for Nuclear Physics in Novosibirsk, and has been
setup with the help of a team from this Institute.

The discovery in
2004 of defects in components, newly installed, of thesystem that will
distribute cryogenic cooling fluids around the ring meantthat installation,
begun in 2003, had to be put on hold. However, afterintense
collaboration between CERN and the company concerned, technicalcorrections
have been made, and in October the manufacture of new unflawedcomponents
began. Repair of the faulty components started in November atCERN and
the first modified items have been successfully installed in theLHC
tunnel.

Various options to make up the delay have been considered, and a
strategyof actions has been established to limit the impact on the
overallschedule for the LHC. One option that was considered was to shut down
theSPS accelerator in 2006 in order to divert human resources to
LHCinstallation. However, this will not be necessary, assuming
thattechnicians can be seconded for a few months from other
laboratoriesworking with accelerators to help with LHC commissioning in
order tomaintain start-up in 2007.

A status report on the four large
experiments for the LHC - ATLAS, CMS,LHCb and ALICE - was presented to
Council. The report recognised the greatprogress being made, although the
schedules to be ready for collisions inthe LHC in 2007 will be tight.
However, there is confidence that with someeffort the experiments will be
ready on time.

The SPS programme reached a natural pause at the end of
the 2004 run, withmost of its approved experiments reaching their
conclusion. The SPS willnot run in 2005. "This allows the community to take
stock of where theyare," said Dr Aymar, "and to plan for an exciting and
well-focusedprogramme for future fixed-target physics at CERN." This
procedure startedin September in the Swiss village of Villars, where the SPS
Committee metto set priorities for 2006 and beyond. As a result, Council
will beexamining proposals for new experiments during the course of
2005.

ElectionsKen J. Peach (GB) was elected as Chairman of the
Scientific PolicyCommittee for a term of one year from 1 January
2005.Mario Calvetti (IT), Ken J. Peach (GB) and Frank Wilczek (US)
werere-elected to the Scientific Policy Committee for a term of three
yearsfrom 1 January 2005.Enrique Fernandez (ES), Daniel Fournier (FR)
and Donald Harthill (US) wereelected to the Scientific Policy Committee for
a period of three yearsfrom 1 January 2005.

The President of Council
and one Vice-President, the Chairman andVice-Chairman of the Finance
Committee, and the Chairman of TREF werere-elected for a period of one year
from 1 January 2005.